Hello again I was wondering if anyone has a KVH TracVision L2 satellite system in their Coach. We have a 2004 Diplomat with this system and it has never been used. I want to get a IRD for Dish Network and start using the sat. I don't know what receiver to purchase or where to purchase it. Any help with this would be most appreciated.

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

I have a 2007 Bounder with Kvh. It works ok. But here in Tucson the high heat will make it go into a search. Unless you turn off the search. It is not easy to get it programed. You have to have a cable and a laptop and program the satellites that you want it to track into it. And that depends on if you are using Direct Tv or Dish. Saying that it works pretty good. If you watching the tv on one satellite and you change the tv to a different station and it's on a different satellite it will take about 5 seconds for the kvh dish to move and lock on to the new satellite . Hope that helps

Sorry didn't answer about the receivers. The regular satellite network will work. The same ones you would purchase for you house. But after that you will need to program the satellites into the kvh. One other thing. There are two feeds from the khv .I think av1 and av2. Av1 is the master signal. So when you want the kvh to find the satellites use the avi to set it up.
One feed has to be the master. If you are using two receivers for a front and rear tv and one person wants to watch a channel on satellite 110 and the other person want to watch a channel satellite 119 . Whoever is watching the receiver with the av1 feed is the one the kvh is going to go to. Good luck

I'm a '04 Diplomat owner as well. Wondering: did your RV come with the Hughes (DirecTV) receiver? If so, proving that the system "works" end-to-end before changing it to Dish might be a good idea. "Working" means viewing the un-encrypted DirecTV channel (where they advertise their programming). Channel 100, I think.

As to what receiver to purchase: If you're still with the original SONY TVs fore & aft, they are not hi-def, you can shop for a used Standard Definition (SD) IRD. These are cheap on ebay and CraigsList. This is a good place to start: stay cheap until you know this lash-up is working.

For used receivers, you'll need a new card from the provider (a DirecTV card costs $20 ... don't know about Dish). If your original Hughes IRD is in place, it probably has a card....but again, an active card is not needed to view channel 100 on DirecTV (again: just prove that the system is functional).

My Hughes IRD is in a cabinet just above the driver's seat. That cabinet has very limited depth...so the Hughes just barely fits. As you switch to Dish, depth of the receiver is of concern unless you intend to relocate it.

Because I watch my satellite TV on SD TVs, I usually just watch using the RF (channel 3) output of the IRD rather than the composite (yellow) and stereo (red/white) RCA-plugged outputs.

Oops. One more item: If you commit to just one IRD aboard, then you probably want that unit to have RV reception/communication with your remote. As you know, an IR remote is line-of-sight in order to control the IRD. An RF remote allows you to control the IRD while in the bedroom ... but of course, the IRD must be RF equipped. My Hughes came with an external "shark fin" -style external antenna that plugs into the IRD via a special jack. An RF-ready IRD is much harder to find on ebay/CraigsList. But there are after-market "IR Blaster" type devices that can be a work-around to this "need RF" problem.

Robi.1014 thanks for the info. I am the second owner of this Coach and the first owner said he never used the sat. and there is no receiver in Coach, so thats why Im trying to find out which receiver will work with the L2. By the way do you have the L2 sat.?

Another thing to know with the satellite signal wire-it has to go from the satellite directly to the receiver it cannot go through a switch box----like the one you would to switch from cable to satellite to DVD player- the av cable from the satellite goes directly to the cable box receiver you bought , Direct, Dish network. Then you could to you switch box. Hope that makes sense.

You want to get the DISH 301 or 311 (either one will do)...this will work with 119 and 110 with standard def programming....avail for $99 at Radio shack....you hook up, call dish with number and they will get you going.

Robi.1014 thanks for the info. I am the second owner of this Coach and the first owner said he never used the sat. and there is no receiver in Coach, so thats why Im trying to find out which receiver will work with the L2. By the way do you have the L2 sat.?

Nope. I'm a "stationary" guy ("S2", I think. I'm at home and the RV and documentation is in storage).

My receiver is the Hughes GAEBOA and has two ports that you should ideally try to look for whether buying a receiver for Dish or DirecTV: the RF port (for the shark-fin antenna I mentioned, or the short-wire antenna that newer receivers use) and the "low speed data port" that communicates with your roof-dish electronics. Apparently, you can get by without the low-speed data port ---> Read paragraph 3.2.2 athttp://www.riverparkinc.com/techpdf/...strux.7.05.pdf

Sorry that this is turning out to be book length....

BTW, did the seller TELL you it was an L2?....or have you proven same to your satisfaction?

Thanks guys, I have the owners manual and am looking at what you are talking about Robi, so I just get the 301 or 311 receiver and try it. We shall see. Great tips and information thanks again everyone.

Bonanza,
Don't spend any money on a reciever just yet. If I'm not mistaken, that dish is the same as the LM (OEM version) and will not work with any reciever that does not have a serial (rs232) port on it. That limits you to an old Directv Reciever only (you can find them on ebay). There is however a $750 DVB upgrade kit that will make it work with any reciever. Then it becomes model R5. If I'm wrong, someone jump in here and correct me.